Our next 5 day Club dust trip is June 22- 26th.

Here are some details on the trip, some of which are very important and may just close the deal on you coming if you weren’t sure until now!

The theme this summer is NASCAR. Or “ Nice – caaarr” as they say in a different part of the country!

We are staying at the Rancho la Paloma in the city of Tecate . The website for this ranch can be seen at   http://www.rancholapaloma.org    The ranch has been a safe, great place of rest and fun for us as we have stayed there for at least 12 years while building in Mexico . There are still plenty of bunk beds.

We are building again in the El Nino Valley where we have been building for many years. Going back to the same community gives us a chance to reconnect with families that we met in years past and learn more about what it is like to be poor and trapped in a cycle of poverty.

Currently, we are planning on building just 2 foundation homes and 4 portable homes. While the need for decent housing is great, at least until now we haven’t received the money from folks to buy lumber and construction materials for paying for more houses. Please consider how you might support this work financially and mail any donations to Club Dust, 1958 Sycamore Glen, San Jose , CA , 95125 .  Pastor Hector selects the most needy of families in the area where we build and he has all the concrete poured and materials ordered before we even arrive. By going to the link below, you will see the location of the houses that we are planning on building.  If you click on a house that represents the location of a house, you will see information on the family we are building for:

 TM Map

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http://db.tt/SP2nplP

BB Map

http://www.google.com/gmm/x?action=BUSI&q=http://db.tt/SP2nplP

IF we don’t get more funds donated before the trip we will end up with a lot people repainting houses we built in years past as we get paint free or almost free here in SoCal.  Either way we know it’ll go just as it is meant to but past experience has shown that when I let folks know the situation is like this they kick in generously and quickly!

On the June trip, we will also have a furniture building team led by Ken Payne and Dieter.   A woman from San Francisco , who experienced Club Dust for the first time last June worked with her 10 year old daughter building furniture for the 8 houses we constructed.  She found that our building foray into Mexico was really about something other than production.  She shared that, “we are here to be with the families.  Kids are the same everywhere. Even though I was so tired delivering the furniture on Saturday, the momentary stress and pain was nothing compared to the joy of seeing the happiness on a couple’s faces when we delivered the furniture.”

How to Register:  Go to http://www.active.com/other-camp/san-jose-ca/club-dust.  The new registration will connect you directly to our Club Dust page on Active.com This system captures all the necessary information and organizes it all in an easy to use manner for the construction folks to use in building teams.

That is it for today. If you have additional questions or concerns feels free to call me or email me directly.

I do hope you can join us and that when you come that you find your own call there as to what you bring best to the table!

Respectfully,

Ray

(408) 205-3045 cell

January 29, 2011

The day together Saturday was wonderful! Thanks to each of you who went and to those of you who supported the day in whatever way you were able.
We had a good group of people from both the US and Mexico meet together to make the day happen. We built and installed the latrine at last week’s build site as well as building one for Jazmin shown below in the beginning and end of the day. She has a major surgery coming up next month in her struggle against cancer and now at least she has a decent home, a safe latrine and food and a good stove to cook on. We tried the stove out by making a hundred or so pancakes for the locals and those of us that needed to taste test them too! We will go back next month on the 26th to finish painting and to help her and her kids out however we can and need to. If you are interested in seeing more pics of what a day trip looks like befriend myself, frank Mogavero or Lilly Angel on Facebook to see the pics from each trip. Next month we have an architecture student coming to study our homes in an attempt to make them even better with new ideas and materials.
Hope your week is starting off well. Good to know so many kids are safe and dry in homes we’ve had so much fun building together over the years~! Ray

a week later!

it has already been a week since my crew and I started and completed successfully the swim from Catalina to Palos Verdes! We had a great crew thank you party and we will follow up with an all day party in Mexico on the 24th of October. People keep asking what I felt like after the race and these days following too. I felt fine and stil do . I haven't swam yet but look forward to doing so as soon as we get done moving this week!.
I am thrilled with the number of people who this charity adventure swim was able to introduce to Club Dust and the money that it generated through the sharing of friends and family. We already are buying uniforms and school supplies for kids who couldnt afford school because of this requirement and the cost of it.

Thanks again to all those of you who gave in thoughts, prayers and financially. I invite you to join us on a single day or multiple day trip to Mexico to see how the money and our time is spent there each month! Teh next date is October 24th and future dates are listed at http://www.clubdust.org/     

San Clemente Resident Completes 20-Mile Open Ocean Swim for Charity


Event Raises Thousands of Dollars for Needy Children and Families in Mexico





Malibu, Calif. (October 1, 2010) -- A 50-year-old San Clemente resident and self-acknowledged “Passionate Ocean swimmer with at best an average technique” recently completed a 20-mile open ocean swim from Catalina to Palos Verdes. When asked the inevitable question “why?” he answered that it was to celebrate turning 50 and to raise money and awareness for the charity “Club Dust” which he started while attending Pepperdine 30 years ago.

Ray Meltvedt, a 1982 alumnus of Seaver College at Pepperdine University in Malibu and now serving as vice president of sales for Landsberg, Amcor, an Austrailian based packaging material manufacturer and distributor, completed the swim in just over 15 hours. Pledges from supporters have netted more than $16,000 for Club Dust, a not-for-profit organization that provides small decent homes, food and school supplies for needy children and families living in Mexico.

“I was pushed beyond my known limits not only physically, but also mentally and emotionally,” said Meltvedt about the swim. “When you’re in the water that long, your mind wanders and you start thinking about all sorts of things. But, as arduous as it was, it was also the experience of a lifetime.”

Meltvedt, who swam bare-chested wearing regular men’s swim trunks rather than a wetsuit, began his swim at Doctor’s Cove in Catalina. He jumped into the water at shortly past 11 p.m. on a Sunday night, receiving a thunderous round of applause from his support crew of 14 family members and friends who were on board the chartered fishing boat to support him in the attempted crossing. After swimming for almost 7 hours in the pitch dark, then seeing the sun rise and continuing under blue, sunny skies, he finally reached shore at approximately 3:15 p.m. the following day near Donald Trump ‘s Terranea Resort in Rancho Palos Verdes.

Water temperatures for most of swim fluctuated between the low and mid-60s, with small to moderate swells and currents. It was the first time that Meltvedt, who stands 5’11’ and weighs 200 pounds, had attempted to swim further than 11 miles at one time.

Accompanying him during the swim was a 50-foot fiberglass fishing boat he chartered as a chase boat and his 14-person crew, including his three daughters, Sierra (19 years-old), Summer (12) and Serena (10). His wife, Robin, whom he met while studying at Pepperdine (and who graduated a year after him in ’83) surprised Ray by joining him for the final half mile swim coming into Palos Verdes.

Ray had several kayakers who accompanied him along the way, and he was joined in the water at various times by swimmers who dived off the boat into the water at various points along the way to provide encouragement. His daughter Sierra paddled a longboard alongside Ray as she had for several of his earlier practice swims along the San Clemente coast.

2-2-2



Friends and family received updates on Meltvedt’s progress via postings on Facebook and a GPS tool called TRACKR. This allowed Ray’s fans to follow his progress via live GPS updates posted on an aerial map of the pacific coastline. Others sent emails to his family and friends to check on his safety and well-being. The chase boat also had a GPS tracking system to ensure that the swimmer stayed on course and swam as straight and direct a line as possible.

Liquid meals high in calories and protein were given to Meltvedt by the crew every 20 -30 minutes throughout the swim to allow him to go the very long 20+ miles from shore to shore. This provided enough calories for his body to produce the necessary heat in the cold ocean water and to have enough energy to swim for 15+ hours non stop.

Meltvedt, who fell in love with the ocean and swimming while living in Malibu and Santa Cruz years ago, trained for the swim over the course of many months but had never received formal swim team training. Still, he suffered no ill effects from the ordeal and was back at work at 8:00 a.m. the next day.

“It was the most wild and wonderful experience of my life,” he said. “If a guy like me can do something like this, anyone can. In addition to raising money for Club Dust (www.clubdust.org) to help those in need, I did it to provide inspiration to children and adults alike – to show them that you can really accomplish what you set out to do in life if you follow your passions and are smart enough to ask for help from friends along the way!”

72 hours !!

72 hours from now ill have just stepped off Catalina Island and started the longest , wildest swim of my life! I swam a mile or so in the dark tonight and had an hour massage that did my back some major good. i m in the final taper. mellow swims to stay loose and plan all the details of what to bring and how to prepare my crew with what they need and need to know. the donations for the Club Dust families have continued to flow in. Generousity that stokes me and makes me smile gil to gil! i will be thinking allot about friends family and club dust during those unpteen hours sunday to monday . I am both grateful and at tension with what to do with my life to make others' lives better. something i chew on daily as I think of how precious the days are that we are able to walk (or swim ) this earth!
I love to try new things but have never tried something so utterly over my head as this. Yet i realize again that with the help of friends I can do much more than I can alone.  The crew will be cheering me on, paddling alongside and throwing me bottles of pure calories as i have to consume some 1000 calories PER HOUR!! that is like pure marzipan and dreyers ice cream heaven but i think i wouldnt do to well on that diet so ill have to adjust a bit to stay healthy and full of useful energy for that long.
Friends will be able to track my progress as we go along, Ill send that link out sat eve as we get it set up.
for now a bit of sleep and one last day of work before it goes all focus to the sea! thanks again for being part of this all!

2 weeks to go!

Swam 8.5 miles yesterday all along the beautiful laguna beach coastline finishing up at the Ritz Carlton hotel with its waiting hottub and food ! My three volunteer ( paid only in a good adventure and free gatorade) paddlers all came along as we learned how they will best guide me across from the island to Palos Verdes in the obsolute straightest line. I swam with a new stroke that i should have learned about years ago. It is a big easy stroke, much less complicated and stressful than how I'd been swimming these past years. Luckily I took the coaching just a week ago and was able to understand what i could improve and practiced it for the 4 hours it took to go the 8.5 miles. i felt great at the finish, downed a hamburger and a redbull and was off to a friend's bday party .
I think it was the support crew that helped so much. having folks around to share adventures with seems to be the magic for me and has been the hardest part of working up big miles in ocean swimming. It is inherently a lonely sport with beautiful but quiet water to stare down at mile after mile.
It might also have been a good swim Sunday because i spent the day with friends and our three girls in Mexico building homes and working alongside the very families that this funding will go to help. Thus I had lots to think through and about and lots to dream up as we figure how best to enable the most kids possible to go to school full time.
This evening I swam 2 + miles at sunset , super choppy cold water which felt great and will better prepare me for whatever nature will give me on the 26th!

My challenge will be on Sept. 26th & 27th................ My challenge to you is to support me by donating to Club Dust!

The ocean has always had a special place in my life from as far back as I can remember. Even as a young kid I remember playing in the waves at Huntington Beach, swimming and riding the waves for hours before falling asleep exhausted on the sand. From all along the southern California coast one can see the Island of Catalina, especially at dusk when it is silhouetted against the sunset making it seem like a far off mysterious land. Many memories were made taking the hour long ferry over to Avalon for a day or weekend of adventure. I think I have used just about every conventional method of transportation to get there and back including ferries, sail and power boats and even a helicopter once. The one thing I never have done nor ever dreamed of doing until recent years was swimming there! But now that’s about to change!

Starting at 11 pm on Sept 26th I’ll be swimming 20 miles from Catalina to Palos Verdes wearing a swimsuit, goggles and a latex swim cap. Even in light of all the recent publicity of sharks and face eating jellyfish, the real challenge will be the 50 year old body I’ll be pushing and pulling across the ocean that night and the next day!! I’ll start at night, as the water is the calmest, and I’ll swim from the Island back since the wind will normally be at my back in that direction. I’ve never swam anywhere close to 20 miles at one time but then I figure that a climber hasn’t climbed Mt. Everest until he or she does it either! I am interested in the physical challenge of this event and what it will take to complete the task that may take up to 18 hours of non stop swimming. I think the challenge will include an equal mix of physical endurance and enduring the elements, as well as a tremendous obstacle within my own head. Ocean swimming is a solitary sport. Even with the great crew and supporters who will be on board the boat, it is still a feeling of being a little twig in a giant beautiful sea of water.

During the swim itself I will be dreaming of many things. One of them is a family that I have come to know and care for deeply. They are the kids of Irene Morales and they live in a small portable home that we built for them along the railroad tracks outside of Tecate, Mexico.  Irene’s kids range in age from 2 yrs old to 17. They have never been to school, as they didn’t have the necessary paperwork. Their father has been in and out of the picture; most recently back long enough to have Irene pregnant with the 7th child, and she is due about the same time as my swim. His beast is drug use and it seems the beast is winning, leaving the kids without a father or money to buy life’s necessities, correct birth certificates, or uniforms and registrations needed for school. The Club Dust gang has been great in loving the kids and their mom. Erick Rojas, the son of a local pastor there, has helped us to start the process of getting the kid’s registrations and has helped to coordinate food and donated clothes for this and many other families in the area. Together we are studying how to introduce Microfinance to the area to encourage families to find ways to earn income to provide for themselves. I have realized, though, that school is absolutely necessary for these kids, and is their only chance of ever breaking the chain of poverty.

To this point I am dedicating my swim and my hours of thought and prayer to making a difference to these kids and many others like them there in the El Nino valley. My goal is to raise $10,000 for a school fund to be administered by Club Dust and Erick’s local church there in El Nino. It will be used to enable kids to go to school who otherwise would not have the opportunity. It will help with Irene’s delivery; enabling her to have the baby in a hospital instead of the floor of her little home. The story of the kids will be easy to see through the pictures shown on the Club Dust website (http://www.clubdust.org/). The website will have pictures of the birthday party we are having for the oldest girl on Sept 11th. Angela has never had a bike and probably not much of a party in the past. This one will make up for all the parties she missed up until now!

To pledge support for the fund and for this family living just 80 miles south of my home in San Clemente you can follow either of the options below. The donations are all tax deductible through Club Dust and I promise you two things if you do. I will be grateful and aware of your support as I dog paddle my way home from Catalina and also that the money will be used wisely with no overhead costs or monkey business. In fact I invite you to join us for a future one day trip to Mexico to build small but decent homes for other families living there along the tracks. Details for Club Dust are on the website and details of my swim as I make my way through the night will be available on my Facebook.


Thanks for your patience and friendship through our lives to date. Our time together has made this challenge one that I look forward to with a wild mixture of adventure and anxiety. I trust that will translate into energy and excitement when I take my first strokes that night! And Thank you for supporting this adventure however you choose to do so. I hope it somehow motivates others to try things that they think are too challenging for them to accomplish. When you live at the edge of possible failure with the faith that it can be done, you are surely living life to the fullest!


And now I ask you to take on your challenge and support Club Dust!